Kelly racked her brain as to where she’d heard the name before and then realised that it was the man who’d assaulted his girlfriend on Sunday, and was in the cells sobering up when she came in on Monday night. She thanked the woman and asked her if she could identify the man if she sent over a photograph, and she said she could. Meanwhile, Kelly downloaded the only image they had of Paul Edderbridge, taken the night he was brought in for beating up his girlfriend, and sent it to the two DCs in Manchester, hoping for a positive ID from Neil Hardy. Kelly didn’t think that, from what they knew about Paul Edderbridge to date, it was normal for him to be carrying large amount of cash around with him.

Her phone buzzed and she saw that it was Zoe from the AAIB.

‘Hi Zoe, any news?’

‘Well, we’ve reviewed the combined flight data and cockpit voice recorder. It confirms there was a catastrophic loss of power to the tail rotor twenty minutes into the flight. That would put them over Wast Water and close to the crash site. They slowed down to watch the fell race, then there was a pull anticlockwise, indicating the tail rotor failed, and they went into an uncontrollable spin. It was harrowing.’

‘I’m sure it was,’ Kelly said.

‘Those pilots were working against unbelievable g-force, and disorientation would have been overwhelming, but they fought, that’s for sure. They tried to deal with every warning that sounded, and they had their shit together. They didn’t give up.’

There was a silence as Kelly absorbed the terror experienced by the pilots as they fought for their lives.

‘And the hydraulic line?’

‘Yes, we’re working on that as our strongest culprit so far. A steady loss of hydraulic fluid wouldn’t have made much difference to torque or power until enough had been leaked, and that coincides with the tail rotor failure, so the timing fits.’

‘Coincides?’

‘That’s the word we use, Kelly. As far as I’m concerned, up to now anyway, that is our working theory. The mechanics who’ve been examining it all agree that hydraulic lines don’t erode in that way, and so our reasonable conclusion is that it was either faulty at manufacture, which is impossible because it has over seven hundred hours of flight, or that it was cut prior to this individual flight.’

‘Thanks, Zoe,’ Kelly said. It was depressing news. The report wouldn’t be ready for weeks, but she still had to investigate the crash with an open mind. ‘How’s the Wasdale Inn?’ Kelly tried to lighten the load.

‘I’m moving to a place in Penrith this evening, to be closer to the hangar. It’s a nice part of the world. I wish I hadn’t been brought here under the current circumstances,’ Zoe said.

‘Is Lance Tatterall still around?’